*Hugo Moldiz* interviewed by *Coral Wynter* and *Jim McIlroy*
April 24, 2013 -- /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/
<http://links.org.au/node/3318> -- Hugo Moldiz is a respected Marxist
journalist and author living in La Paz. He has written several books,
including /Bolivia in the Times of Evo/, published by Ocean Sur in 2009.
He is editor of the weekly /La Epoca/ and has also contributed many
articles to the magazine /America XXI/. We interviewed him during a
recent visit to La Paz, Bolivia. Translation from the Spanish by Coral
Wynter.
* * *
*What is the significance of the election of an Indigenous president in
Bolivia?*
The very fact of the election of an Indian to the highest level of
government, to the presidency, was a revolutionary act. This may not
mean so much in other parts of the world, but when we understand the
nature of the social formation in Bolivia, it is very significant. This
is due to the way the republic was established [in 1825] and its
development based on the past colonial period, involving the development
of forms of capitalist control over work and the stealing of our natural
resources (the source of the original capital).
Successive governments further entrenched this by the almost total
exclusion of the majority of people, the Indigenous people, from
political participation. It was a double exclusion for the Indigenous
people -- from political power as well as from participation in society.
If you want to look at it in class terms and also from the point of view
of the national culture, capitalism in countries like Bolivia has been
sustained by colonialism. Thus from this perspective, the arrival of Evo
Morales was very significant and resulted from the emergence of an
Indigenous, peasant and popular movement and the formation of a new
power bloc that is moving to displace the old power structure.
Full interview http://links.org.au/node/3318
* * *
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